Argentina: Agostina, 16

My name is Agostina, I am 16 years old and I live in Argentina. To be a little more specific in a city within the province of Buenos Aires called Mar Del Plata.

We have a different culture and customs compared to other countries. Two meals/ingredients we use in our country which perhaps dont exist in others are "mate" and "dulce de leche". Mate is a bit similar to tea and we drink it almost all the time. Dulce de leche is kind of a brown cream which we put on toasts, into hot cakes or inside alfajores.

If you are in secondary school, school starts at 7.30am and ends usually between 13.00pm and 15.15pm, depending on your daily timetable. We enter school at the age of six and when we are twelve years old, we start to go to a secondary school which we leave when we are around 18 years old.

I must wear a uniform, but thats just because I go to a private school, otherwise I could wear whatever I would want. One thing I really like about my country is that we dont have to pay for our college, unless you want to go to a private one.

On a typical day in my life, I wake up at 6.30am, have breakfast (coffee and toasts), go to school and then I come home or go out with my friends.

But on weekends I always go to the coast where I stay with my friends until 3am. My parents know all I do because they trust on me and they know that I wouldn't do anything crazy. We usually drink or sometimes go to bars. I don't go there every Saturday, just when my parents allow me to. If I wanna go, I have to get an ID of someone who is over 18 and looks like me because if I don't they won't let me in.

When boys are 18, they usually get a car for their birthday. When a girl is 15 years old, she can choose between making a big party (its like ''sweet sixteen'' but a year earlier) or going to the Disneyland. Or both, if her parents can pay for it.

Since I was little, I always planned to make a party when Im 15 because I wanted to wear a beautiful dress like a princess. But when I grew up I changed my mind because I realized that going to Disneyland has always been my dream. But we had a problem because my sister, who is my twin, wanted both and I only wanted to go to Disney so we decided to make a little party and travel to Disney with our friends and it was amazing. I can't compare the party with the trip to Disney, I would definitely choose the trip again if I would have the opportunity.

Agostina, 16yrs, a coast city in Argentina

#southamerica #16yrsold #sharedstory